On June 5, 2023, the Board of Directors of The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) appointed Douglas B. Smith, the Company's Chief Financial Officer and principal financial officer, to also serve as the Company's principal accounting officer, effective immediately. Mr. Smith, 62, has served as the Company's Chief Financial Officer since May 2019. Before joining the Company, Mr. Smith served as the CFO of Ashworth College, an online education provider offering high school, undergraduate, and graduate degree programs, from March 2016 to April 2019.

Mr. Smith also served as the CFO of Scout Media, a sports oriented digital media company, from 2015 to 2016, GLM Shows, a trade show operator, from 2011 to 2014, EducationDynamics, a marketing and enrollment growth services and solutions provider for higher education institutions, from 2009 to 2011, Datran Media, a digital marketing technology company, from 2005 to 2008, and Peppers & Rogers Group, a management consulting group focusing on customer-based business strategy, from 2000 to 2005. From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Smith served as Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Primedia, a magazine publishing company. Prior to his corporate experience, Mr. Smith served as the Senior Vice President of the Bank of New York from 1982 to 1993, where he specialized in Media lending.

Mr. Smith earned his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and his B.A. in Economics from Connecticut College.